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Man on Wire
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Dark Knight, The
81
Still Life
72
Woman on the Beach
72
Ghost Town
71
Horton Hears a Who!
67
Flow: For Love of Water
64
Wanted
64
Pineapple Express
63
Man Named Pearl, A
63
Burn After Reading
62
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The
62
Duchess, The
61
Wackness, The
60
Traitor
60
Blind Mountain
57
Towelhead
55
House Bunny, The
55
Ping Pong Playa
54
Hamlet 2
51
Mamma Mia!
51
Savage Grace
51
Step Brothers
49
Hancock
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
43
Eagle Eye
43
Anamorph
43
Meet Dave
43
Death Race
42
Fred Claus
36
Space Chimps
36
Righteous Kill
36
Fly Me to the Moon
31
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The
27
Women, The
26
Babylon A.D.
24
Bangkok Dangerous
20
American Carol, An
16
Surfer, Dude
15
Disaster Movie
xx
Eden Lake
xx
Alphabet Killer, The
xx
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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What Happens in Vegas...
20th Century Fox
 |
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FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some sexual and crude content, and language, including a drug reference
Starring
Cameron Diaz,
Ashton Kutcher,
Rob Corddry,
Treat Williams,
and
Dennis Farina
For charismatic party guy Jack Fuller and buttoned-up commodities trader Joy McNally, a rowdy weekend coincidentally shared in Las Vegas should have, by all rights, ended up being little more than a random blur. That is, if these two vacationing New Yorkers didn't have a signed marriage license staring them in the face to shockingly remind them of the giant misstep they took while feeling no pain, Vegas style. Stacking the deck, not only did Jack and Joy tie the knot after tying one on, but later scored a mind-blowing 3 million bucks in a slot machine bonanza. Well, Jack won it, with Joy's quarter. At the machine she'd already been playing. Or was it the other way around? And whose loot is it, anyway? Therein lies the weird hand dealt this bickering duo, who take their predicament back to Manhattan only to be sentenced by the intractable Judge Whopper to "six months hard marriage." Despite the hapless protests of Jack's best friend and legal counsel Steve "Hater" Hader, Whopper refuses to grant Jack and Joy an annulment, freezes the prize booty, and forces the irresponsible couple to prove they have done everything humanly possible to make their impromptu marriage work. This includes cohabitation, weekly counseling sessions, and doing something the old-school Whopper believes Jack and Joy's "generation" hates to do: try. Otherwise, the judge guarantees, the 3 million bucks will stay caught up in a legal battle so long and expensive that no one but the lawyers will ever see a penny of it. Jack and Joy take the bait, only to find themselves locked in a hilarious, patience-testing, panty-twisting game of wild one-upmanship--may the best "pretend spouse" win. Can Jack and Joy survive their six months of "wedded bliss" without killing each other, and ultimately cash in for the big payoff? Or will the fiery sparks that ricochet between them actually ignite, turning a fake relationship into something real? In the end, What Happens in Vegas may prove the biggest surprise of all. (20th Century Fox)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
Romance
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Dana Fox
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Tom Vaughan
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: August 26, 2008
Theatrical: May 9, 2008
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
99 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Travis Nichols
A first- or second-date flick, after which there can be some Cheesecake Factory and maybe a peck on the cheek, no harm done. What Happens in Vegas is pleasant enough for all of that (and it sidesteps all that "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" raunch).
70
Chicago Reader
Andrea Gronvall
Amiable screwball comedy.
70
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
An exceedingly bright comedy that never makes you feel stupid for enjoying its brisk pacing, smart lines, sound construction and superb comic acting, not only from Ashton Kutcher but from Cameron Diaz and well-chosen No. 2 bananas Rob Corddry and Lake Bell.
67
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Kutcher, who gives his most energized performance to date, and Diaz, darting between the caustic and shrill, look as if they're warming up to groovy hate sex, not love, which may be why the film goes flat the moment it turns friendly.
63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Their chemistry goes like this: He cleans up real nice; she dirties down with gusto.
63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Sadly, about the nicest thing I can say about What Happens in Vegas is that I didn't hate it - although I suppose that's something.
60
Variety
Joe Leydon
This two-seated star vehicle for top-billed Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz wrings a respectable number of laughs from a formulaic scenario about attracted-opposites who bicker and back-stab their way toward happily-ever-aftering.
60
LA Weekly
Julia Wallace
The stars, despite having only a fraction of the charm and talent of classic sparring-but-meant-for-each-other duos, know how to mug for the camera and well up on cue, and somehow that turns out to be enough to carry this trifle.
60
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
Hokey and forced as it is, What Happens in Vegas eventually settles into a rhythm, maybe because Diaz and Kutcher actually look like they have fun together.
50
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
The overwhelming sensation of deja vu is exhausting and disorienting. You really HAVE seen it all before.
50
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Complain all you want about the affable slobs in Judd Apatow comedies; at least they're not tools.
50
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Cameron Diaz is the ideal guy's gal and Ashton Kutcher is, well, a guy. Together, they're a zero.
50
USA Today
Claudia Puig
It's a story that feels familiar at best, hackneyed at worst, which is surprising and disappointing, as director Tom Vaughan also made last year's "Starter for 10," a charming British coming-of-age comedy.
42
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
After the initial charm wears off, the whole thing gets check-your-text-messages dull.
40
Salon.com
Mary Elizabeth Williams
As it is, it's too restrained, too often -- too eager to gallop toward postcard sunsets on the beach when tequila shooters and lap dances are what the moment calls for. You'd think the combination of Diaz, Kutcher and Vegas would be good for at least a little sexy, silly fun. But don't bet on it.
40
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
While Diaz and Kutcher make their clichéd characters as likable as possible, you can bet on this: Any movie named after an already-stale ad campaign isn't likely to gamble on the unexpected.
40
Empire
Ian Nathan
Bland enough to make millions as culture edges closer to oblivion.
38
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
The screenplay by Dana Fox (she was one of the rewriters of "27 Dresses") devolves into a series of humiliating pranks that always give the upper narrative hand to the male lead. Talk about depressing. I mean, that's what male screenwriters are for--to unfairly stack the deck against the female leads.
38
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Laughs are few and far between in the innuendo-laden script attributed to Dana Fox, who's also responsible for the reprehensible "The Wedding Date."
38
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
If you don't see where this is going, you've never seen a movie. Sorry it had to be this one.
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
What Happens in Vegas should damn well have stayed in Vegas.
33
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
What Happens in Vegas is not only annoying, it's also incompetent – a bad mix.
30
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
Only Diaz shows spark because the actress knows how to simultaneously play nice and be a nasty character, thereby gaining audience sympathy. Everyone else hits one note, and it isn't nice.
25
San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Hartlaub
Who wants to spend a minute on the Strip with the chance that there might be people as annoying as the characters played by Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher walking around?
25
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
The one actor I wanted more of was Williams, who imbues Jack's dad with a robust, sometimes domineering wiliness that suggests a real person. Of course, these silly, inept filmmakers probably cast him because he plays a good guy and his first name is Treat.
25
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
When it was over I felt vaguely embarrassed. I wasn't just leaving a movie theater. I was taking a walk of shame.
20
Film Threat
Pete Vonder Haar
If What Happens in Vegas... serves any purpose, it's to make me consider spending my gambling money in Reno or on a riverboat instead.
20
Austin Chronicle
Kimberley Jones
If you're gonna hire one of the funniest American comedians working today – Zach Galifianakis – and shove him to the side of the frame, then frankly, you can take what happens in Vegas, keep it in Vegas, and keep the rest of the us out of it.
10
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
What Happens in Vegas... should have stayed in development -- forever. This ramshackle -- and occasionally repulsive -- farce doesn't even deliver on the minimal promise of its title; most of it takes place in Manhattan.
10
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
Because its director, Tom Vaughan, brings nothing of interest to the movie, including filmmaking, there isn't anything to say other than to note its insulting ugliness and ineptitude.
10
Time
Richard Schickel
Worst-in-breed not only for this year, but very likely in living memory.
 The average user rating for this movie is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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